Extremophile life-form survey on rocky exoplanets

TL;DR

This paper introduces the Colonizing Similarity Index (CSI) to identify rocky exoplanets suitable for extremophile life forms, expanding the search for life beyond Earth by analyzing 1650 planets.

Contribution

The study proposes and applies the CSI metric to assess the habitability of rocky exoplanets for extremophiles, a novel approach in astrobiology.

Findings

CSI identifies potentially habitable exoplanets for extremophiles.

Many exoplanets previously considered uninhabitable are recognized as suitable.

The method distinguishes between habitable and in-habitable rocky exoplanets.

Abstract

Search for different life-forms elsewhere is the fascinating area of research in astrophysics and astrobiology. Nearly 3500 exoplanets are discovered according to NASA exoplanet archive database. Earth Similarity Index (ESI) is defined as the geometrical mean of radius, density, escape velocity and surface temperature, ranging from 0 (dissimilar to Earth) to 1(Earth). In this research, rocky exoplanets that are suitable for rock dependent extremophiles, such as: Chroococcidiopsis and Acarosporamto are chosen, which can potentially survive are considered. The Colonizing Similarity Index (CSI) is introduced and analysed for 1650 rocky exoplanets, CSI is basically representing Earth-like planets that are suitable for rocky extremophiles which can survive in extreme temperatures (i.e. as hot as desert and cold as frozen lands). In this work the in-habitable exoplanets are recognised even for these rocky extremophiles to not potentially survive by using the CSI metric tool.